March 16, 2009
John Yembrick
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov
George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov
CONTRACT RELEASE: C09-011
NASA AWARDS LAUNCH SERVICES CONTRACT FOR FOUR MISSIONS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has selected United Launch Alliance of
Littleton, Colo., for the launch of two Science Mission Directorate
and two Space Operations Mission Directorate payloads under the NASA
Launch Services contract.
The launches will occur on Atlas V expendable launch vehicles. The
total value of the award is approximately $600 million, which
includes the launch services for the rockets, plus additional
services under other contracts for payload processing, launch vehicle
integration, and tracking, data and telemetry support.
The launches will be from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Fla. The four payloads are the Radiation Belt Storm
Probes mission, the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, and the
Tracking and Data Relay Satellites K and L, or TDRS-K and TDRS-L,
missions.
Planned for launch in 2011, the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes
mission uses two almost identical spacecraft built by the Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. For two
years, the twin probes will study the radiation belts surrounding
Earth to improve our understanding of how the sun's changing energy
flow affects them.
Two new Tracking and Data Relay satellites will be launched, TDRS-K
and TDRS-L, to replenish the NASA communications relay network that
provides voice, data, video and telemetry links between spacecraft
below geosynchronous orbit and the ground. Among the major users of
the relay network are the International Space Station and NASA's
Hubble Space Telescope. The launches are planned for 2012 and 2013.
The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission is a NASA space physics research
effort to discover the fundamental plasma physics processes of
magnetic reconnection that occurs when energy emanating from the
sun's solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. Four
identical satellites will be launched together in a stacked
configuration. They will fly in an elliptical orbit around Earth. The
Magnetospheric Multiscale Project is managed by NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., under a contract with the Southwest
Research Institute in San Antonio. The launch is planned for 2014.
NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida manages launch services, including payload integration and
certifying launch vehicles, for NASA's use.
For more information about NASA and its missions, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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